II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1484

Entitled the ‘‘Blind Justice Act of 1999’’.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

AUGUST 4, 1999

Mr. SPECTER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred

to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

Entitled the ‘‘Blind Justice Act of 1999’’.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This act may be cited as the

5 ‘‘Blind Justice Act of 1999’’.

6 SEC. 2. ASSIGNMENT OF CASES IN DISTRICT COURT.

7 Title 28, United States Code is amended—

8 (1) in section 137 as follows:

9 (A) By adding the words, ‘‘Except as pro10 vided below,’’ at the beginning of the first para11 graph.
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1 (B) By deleting the words ‘‘and assign the

2 cases’’ in the middle of the second paragraph.

3 (C) By inserting the following new para4 graphs at the end of the section:

5 ‘‘Except as provided below, the chief judge of the dis6 trict court shall assign all cases by means of an automated

7 random assignment program provided by the Administra8 tive Office of the United States Courts.

9 ‘‘Notwithstanding the foregoing, the chief judge of

10 the district court may directly assign related cases and

11 technical cases to a specific judge without using the auto12 mated random assignment program. The chief judge may

13 directly assign a related case only to a judge who is hear14 ing or has heard a case or cases to which the new case

15 relates. The chief judge may directly assign a technical

16 case only to a judge who has significant experience with

17 the subject matter at issue.

18 ‘‘For purposes of this section, a ‘‘related case’’ is a

19 case which involves substantially the same facts, individ20 uals, and/or property as a case previously or contempora21 neously before the court.

22 ‘‘For purposes of this section, a ‘‘technical case’’ is

23 a case which involves specialized, unusually complex facts

24 or subject matter and which would demand a significant

25 investment of time for a judge to master.’’
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1 SEC. 3. ASSIGNMENT OF CASES IN CIRCUIT COURT.

2 Title 28, United States Code is amended—

3 (1) in section 46 as follows:

4 (A) By adding the words, ‘‘in accordance

5 with the procedures outlined in Section 46(e),’’

6 at the end of Section 46(a).

7 (B) By adding the words ‘‘In accordance

8 with the procedures outlined in Section 46(a)’’

9 at the beginning of Section 46(b).

10 (C) By inserting the following new Section

11 46(e) at the end of the section:

12 ‘‘Except as provided below, the chief judge of the cir13 cuit court shall assign all cases by means of an automated

14 random assignment program provided by the Administra15 tive Office of the United States Courts.

16 ‘‘Notwithstanding the foregoing, the chief judge of

17 the circuit court may directly assign related cases and

18 technical cases to a specific judge or judges without using

19 the automated random assignment program. The chief

20 judge may directly assign a related case only to a judge

21 or judges who are hearing or have heard a case or cases

22 to which the new case relates. The chief judge may directly

23 assign a technical case only to a judge or judges who have

24 significant experience with the subject matter at issue.

25 ‘‘For purposes of this section, a ‘‘related case’’ is a

26 case which involves substantially the same facts, individ-
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1 uals, and/or property as a case previously or contempora2 neously before the court.

3 ‘‘For purposes of this section, a ‘‘technical case’’ is

4 a case which involves specialized, unusually complex facts

5 or subject matter and which would demand a significant

6 investment of time for a judge to master.’’

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